Anne Haddy, credited also as Anne Hardy, was an Australian actress, television presenter and voice artist, who worked in various facets of the industry including radio, stage and television, she appeared in numerous television films early in her career, but of the latter was best known for her television soap opera roles as Alice Hemmings in cult seriesPrisoner, Rosie Andrews on Sons and Daughters and most especially her long-running role as matriarch Helen Daniels on Neighbours. A renowned children's entertainer, she was an original presenter of the local version of Play School and also provided her voice in some films of the animated "Dot" series.
Haddy was born an only child in Quorn, South Australia, she attended Adelaide High School. She acted in radio plays and school broadcasts while she was working in Adelaide University's book room. She later attended the Sydney Theatre Company. She relocated to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to find acting work, but ended up working as a secretary for Kellogg's. She married her first husband, Max Dimmitt, before returning to Australia, where she gave birth to two children. In 1960, Haddy and her family moved to Sydney. Haddy later married actor and scriptwriter James Condon after her marriage to Dimmitt was dissolved. They acted alongside each other twice, both during Haddy's tenure on Neighbours.
Career
Anne Haddy became one of the first presenters of Play School, a show that has launched the career of many Australian soap stars. She appeared in numerous made-for-television movies in the 1960s, as well as taking guest roles in serials throughout the 1960s ad early 1970s including Wandjina!, Dynasty, and Punishment. From the late 1970s onwards her roles in TV soaps where more prominent, with her first major permanent role was in the series Prisoner, where she played Doreen Anderson's mother, who having abandoned Doreen as a youngster, returns to visit her revealing she has terminal cancer. In 1982 until 1985 she played housemaid Rosie Andrews in Sons and Daughters, before in 1986 taking on her longest and most famous regular role, as series matriarch Helen Daniels, in Neighbours a role she would appear in for the 12 years, raking up 1,162 episodes, and at that time one of the longest serving actors.
Health
Haddy suffered ill health for the last two decades of her life. She suffered a heart attack in 1979, leading to four bypass operations. Shortly thereafter, she fell and broke her hip, and later learned she had stomach cancer, which was reportedly discovered early and successfully treated surgically. In 1983, she had one of her four heart bypasses unclogged. Further health problems and a broken hip led to kidney trouble, which caused her to retire from acting in 1997. Haddy had remarked that she would like to have her real-life funeral screened as part of Neighbours.
Anne Haddy died at her home in Melbourne from a kidney related illness on 6 June 1999, aged 68 In the UK, the episode of Neighbours that was broadcast on BBC One the following day ended with a dedication to her memory, accompanied by an announcement of her death.
